DWYER, ROBERT J.

Name: Robert J. Dwyer
Rank/Branch: Lieutenant/US Navy
Unit:
Age: 32
Home City: Worthington, OH
Date of Loss: early February 1991
Country of Loss:
Loss Coordinates:
Status: Killed in Action
Status in 2002: KIA/BNR
Changed from MIA to KIA/BNR 02/28/1991.
Acft/Vehicle/Ground:

Other Personnel in Incident: (unknown)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 19 March 1991 from one
or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
published sources, interviews. Update 2024 POW NETWORK.

REMARKS: OPERATION DESERT STORM

SYNOPSIS: During the early weeks of the Middle East war, each time a
Coalition serviceman was shot down or captured, extensive media coverage
followed. The public and POW/MIA families alike had the information they
wanted at the touch of a dial.

When Coalition POWs began being showed on Iraqi television, the world
suffered with their familes as they haltingly gave coerced "peace"
statements. This propaganda effort on the part of the Iraqis actually had a
positive effect in the United States. Families at least knew their missing
loved one was alive, and could assess their mental and physical condition
from propaganda interviews.

Then the "information gap" began. The Pentagon announced that it would no
longer release any information other than name, rank, age and branch of
service of missing or captured personnel. This step was taken, they said, to
protect the well-being of prisoners and to avoid jeopardizing search and
rescue efforts for the missing.

Pentagon briefings and television reports listed the loss of aircraft and
statistics, and the human element of the war was gone. Even long after
search and rescue efforts would cease, no information was released on
missing personnel. Intelligence reports indicating "missing" people were
captured were largely ignored. In the 6 weeks following the televised
propaganda interviews by Coalition POWs, only one Coalition serviceman was
declared POW - and even then, no information was released about him.

The name of Navy Lt. Robert J. Dwyer, age 32, appeared on Pentagon missing
lists in early February 1991. There has been no other information released
by media or government sources about Robert Dwyer.

In early March 1991, 21 American POWs were released by the Iraqis, but
Robert J. Dwyer was not among them. No further word of his fate has been
released. Then in mid-March, Robert J. Dwyer was declared dead. It was not
announced whether the declaration was based on the return of remains or
circumstantial.

Several thousand families whose loved ones remain missing in Vietnam, Korea,
and World War II are very concerned about the "information gap" regarding
the missing and prisoners in the Middle East war. They remember being told
to "keep quiet" for the sake of their loved ones. They know that it was only
when they became actively vocal that world pressure stopped the torture and
ill treatment of their men.

They know that nameless, faceless men are easily left behind at the end of
hostilities. They are afraid that another generation of prisoners and
missing, unknown to the American public, will be abandoned to the enemy.

As of 2020, Dwyer's remains have not been recovered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

12/2011

Operation Desert Storm, 1991:
Lt. Cmdr. Barry T. Cooke, U.S. Navy, was lost on Feb. 2, 1991, when his A-6 aircraft went down in the Persian Gulf
 
Lt. Robert J. Dwyer, U.S. Navy, was lost on Feb. 5, 1991, when his FA-18 aircraft went down in the Persian Gulf
 
Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2003-2010
Staff Sgt. Ahmed K. Altaie, U.S. Army, was lost on Oct. 23, 2006 while serving in Iraq as a translator for the U.S. military
 
Mr. Kirk Von Ackermann, DoD contractor, was lost on Oct. 9, 2003, while working in Forward Operating Base Pacesetter, Iraq
 
Mr. Timothy E. Bell, DoD contractor, was lost on April 9, 2004, while working in Baghdad, Iraq
 
Mr. Adnan al-Hilawi, DoD contractor, was lost on March 3, 2007, while working in Baghdad, Iraq"
 
There are six total.
 
Sgt. Bergdahl was not included in this number as he is missing from operations in Afghanistan.
 


 

Home Town

 
Last Address
Worthington, OH
 

Casualty Date
Feb 05, 1991
 
Cause
Hostile, Died while Missing
Reason
Air Loss, Crash - Sea
Location
Kuwait
Conflict
Wars and Conflicts/Gulf Wars*/Operation Desert Storm
Location of Interment
Arlington National Cemetery - Arlington, Virginia
Wall/Plot Coordinates
Plot: Memorial Section H Grave:513

 

https://www.military.com/history/gold-star-father-reflects-search-only-pilot-shot-down-during-gulf-war.html?ESRC=eb_
240527.nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=eb&utm_campaign=20240527

A Gold Star Father Reflects on the Search for the Only Pilot Shot Down During the Gulf War

Military.com | By Blake Stilwell
Published 

On Jan. 17, 1991, the first night of Operation Desert Storm, Lt. Cmdr. Michael Scott Speicher took off from the flight deck
of the USS Saratoga in his F/A-18 Hornet. He was the first casualty of the war and was never seen alive again. For years,
the U.S. Navy maintained that he'd been shot down by a surface-to-air missile. His wingmen swore it was an Iraqi MiG
fighter. At the outset, the only thing anyone knew for sure was that he -- or his remains -- were missing in action.

At that time, Steve Dwyer was serving with the 82nd Aviation Brigade as an operations research systems analyst,
stationed near the small Saudi Arabian town of Rafha, near the border with Iraq. ...